On Saturday, March 20, 1993, a bomb planted by the IRA in a litter bin detonated in Warrington town centre, causing complete devastation and killing three-year-old Johnathan Ball and injuring 12-year-old Tim Parry so severely he died days later.

Now, the atrocity, which inspired a tireless campaign for peace and reconciliation by Tim's family, has been revisited in a factual new drama called Mother's Day.

The 90-minute drama details the aftermath of the bombings and the public response, focusing particularly on Tim's mother Wendy (played by Anna Maxwell Martin) and Susan McHugh (played by Vicky McClure), a Dublin mum who was so outraged at the loss of life that she organised one of the largest peace rallies in Irish history.

The one-off film shot in Belfast tells the story from the perspectives of both women living on separate sides of the Irish Sea who were brought together by the appalling tragedy.

A message from Colin

Huge credit to Wendy and Colin Parry and Susan McHugh. You displayed incredible kindness. None of you chose this story. And to all who brought their incredibly difficult situation to dramatic life. Thank you. https://t.co/RDXGc1iG2L

Praise for 'brilliant tribute' to Johnathan and Tim

There has been heartfelt praise on social media about Mother’s Day - not just for the actors and production team but also for all who campaigned so tirelessly for peace since the events of that day.

‘Nick of the North’ called the programme an ‘extremely brave, poignant and controversial drama,’ and ‘devastatingly courageous’.

Emma Adwoa Sawyerr said: “This is a very well acted, sensitively handled, powerful drama which resonates with what’s still happening in 2018.”

@OhHeyJacob wrote: “I’m watching #MothersDay on BBC2 and I have to say that it is spectacular. What a wonderful, emotional and powerful programme. If you aren’t watching, you simply must watch on catch up. It’s the sort of thing only the BBC can do.”

Watching #MothersDay confirms what an extraordinary achievement the Good Friday Agreement was by Blair, Mowlam, Hume, Trimble, Major, Clinton, Mitchell, Adams & other party leaders involved. Also reminder of incredible courage & determination of Parry family.

An extremely brave, poignant and controversial drama. A beautifully honest and understated performance from @Vicky_McClure as Susan McHugh. @danielmays9 at his most heartbreaking I’ve cried about ten times. Devastatingly courageous. #MothersDay

Despite her own horrendous injuries, Samantha bravely dragged Johnathan from the scene to a doorway for shelter – but nothing could be done to save him.

For 25 years she kept her horrific experiences bottled up in a bid to blot out her painful memories, but she finally spoke out to The Mirror this year after an anniversary service to mark the blast.

Samantha Thompson and Johnathan Ball in 1992

The 38-year-old said: “It is as clear as ever. As if it was yesterday. I was with my friend with her little sister. Her little sister’s shoe fell off so she stopped, otherwise she would have been with us. Me and Johnathan continued to run into Bridge Street.

“I did not know what it was. I can’t remember anyone running away.

“I thought it [the explosion] sounded like a big piece of sheet metal, falling from a lorry. We stood alongside the bin, just looking up the street, and it went off. Johnathan was still holding my hand.

“I will never forget the smell. It was like lighting a match, a burning smell. I can’t remember hearing anything, other than the blast. My instinct took over, I just got my hands under his armpits and dragged him into a shop doorway.

“I did not have a clue I was hurt. A man appeared and he was a godsend. He just kept saying, ‘What’s your home number?’ We did not have mobiles.

“He rolled Johnathan over and I remember him saying, ‘He is gone.’ His little eyes were half shut. And I passed out. That is the last time I saw him.”

Samantha Thompson was with Johnathan Ball on the day of the bombing

Tragically, the parents of Johnathan never recovered from the death of their son and they split up shortly after the bomb blast. Johnathan’s father, Wilf Ball, 69, died from a suspected heart attack in 2004 and his body lay undiscovered for two days.

His mother, Marie Comerford suffered a fatal heart attack on the 16th anniversary of her son’s murder with the coroner saying she died of a broken heart.

The beautiful little boy would be 29 years old if he were alive today.

22:07Carmella de Lucia

Dear Tim...

Earlier this year as the 25th anniversary of the bombing approached, Colin penned an emotional letter to his son Tim in the Liverpool Echo.

Here are his heartbreaking words of love and loss:

To My Boy, Tim

Today, it is 25 long years since you were fatally injured by a bomb in Bridge Street.

It is 25 long years since the very last time I gazed upon your smiling face.

It is 25 long years since I last heard you speak.

It is 25 long years since I last held you.

It has been 25 long years of the pain of missing you.

It has been 25 long years, which is more than double the time we had you with us.

Each of us – me, your Mum, your brother Dom, your sister Abbi, your cousins, uncles, aunts and your dearest friends – all miss you and never ever forget how huge a part of our lives you were…and, be assured, always will be.

But memories of when you were with us, precious as they are, will always be shrouded in deep sadness that you had these 25 years stolen from you, and you have missed so much.

Tim Parry who was killed by an IRA bomb in Warrington (Image: Daily Mirror)

You have not shared the joy of the birth of your three nieces and your one nephew.

You will never ever hear them call you Uncle Tim, but they do, and they do so often.

They walk in the path that you walked. They have all attended the same schools as you did. They often hear you named in their school, whether as a mark of respect, or because of a special anniversary and, of course, the High School established a memorial garden in your name.

You were the first name in the wall which marks the garden – though, sadly, more children than I would have ever expected have joined you in that wall, with you at its centre.

Two years after we lost you, your Mum and I set up a wonderful charity which is named after you and three-year-old Johnathan Ball who died on that awful day.

Seven years after we lost you, we opened a unique building named after you and Johnathan. It is a Peace Centre. No, it is THE Peace Centre. It is the only Peace Centre in this country and, so far as we know, it is the ONLY Peace Centre anywhere in the whole world, and it is your Peace Centre Tim. It is a living memorial to you Tim and to Johnathan.

Tim Parry as a child

Many good people supported us after we lost you Tim, and they gave us the strength to set up our charity in your name.

Many good people help us today and every day, to keep your charity and your Peace Centre going.

Many thousands of people have been helped by your charity Tim. Their lives have been made better and safer thanks to you, and we do it all in your name.

Your school photograph smiles down on everyone who sets foot in the Peace Centre or takes part in our peace work because your face is on everything we produce in print and on our website.

So, who and what would you have become Tim on this day, at the age of 37 years and 200 days?

Would you be a husband or partner to someone you loved to share your life with? I think so.

Would you be a father to one, or more children? I think so.

Would you be highly educated, with a career in which you excelled? I think so.

Would you still have the passion you had as a 12-year-old boy for sport? I think so.

Would you have brought up your son or sons or daughters to have the passion you shared with Dom, with me, with your Grandad Eric, for Everton Football Club, and would you smile to know that Everton made a trophy, the ‘Tim Parry Trophy’, which Dom and I present every year at Goodison to the best player in the Everton Cup Final? I know so!

Colin and Tim Parry

So you see Tim, that your life and memory is a beacon to so many others.

Your name is immortalised by your Peace Foundation and your Peace Centre.

You live on in so many ways.

Of course, whatever may have followed after we lost you, you would have lived on through your close family, but now, you have a family of millions. Your name is a symbol for peace just as I said that I hoped it would be, when I spoke at your funeral.

Since we lost you, your grandparents have followed on. Grandad Eric went first and was followed by your Nanna Betty and Grandad John. They lie with you overlooking Warrington, and when we visit where you lie we remember you all, including the one grandparent you never met, my mother and your Nanna, Lucy. I hope you have met her in heaven with Eric, Betty and John.

Rest easy Tim and be assured that you have touched the lives of many people…most of whom you never met, but they have met you and they thank you for what you have given them.

It is 25 long years since I last saw you, heard you and held you my son, but you are never far. You will be with us all until the time comes for us to join you and see you, hear you and hold you once again.

With eternal love,

Your Dad, who is proud that you are his Son x

21:56Carmella de Lucia

Susan McHugh's steadfast fight for peace

The entire nation wished for peace following the events in Warrington on that day in 1993.

But Susan McHugh was so affected that she decided to do something about it, calling for a peace rally that drew hundreds of people.

Four days later a second, called Peace 93, attracted 20,000.

Susan McHugh addresses crowd at Irish peace rally

There had never been such a public stand against sectarian violence.

Susan, a part time creche worker tapped the feelings in her country and the wider world and turned them into action.

She had wept over news that Johnathan Ball had been killed in the atrocity and felt infuriated at the feeling of hopelessness. So on the afternoon of the bombing, she phoned Irish radio show Liveline.

“I had just dropped my kids at playschool when I heard,” she says. “It was the day before Mother’s Day. I tried to imagine how I’d feel. I made up my mind to call the show and said, ‘I’ve had enough and I can’t be the only one’.

“As thoughts came into my mind I announced them – we would have a peace rally in four days.”

How The Mirror covered the senseless tragedy

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Praise for 'powerful' acting

Tim’s father Colin has praised the actors in Mother’s Day for their ‘powerful’ performances’.

I was really in two minds about watching Mothers Day on the BBC. But something that is so significant to your home town’s history and how it shaped us all as kids, well I just couldn’t not #peace#MothersDay#bbc#warrington xx

'Extremely honoured'

Mother’s Day actress Vicky McClure said she was ‘extremely honoured’ to be part of the programme and tweeted this poignant message.

21:28Carmella de Lucia

How BBC drama affected the Parry family

Mother’s Day is evidently an emotional and harrowing watch, but Tim’s parents say they were not concerned about the programme reopening emotional wounds.

Wendy told The Radio Times that things like that cannot touch them now, having suffered far greater emotional trauma.

“The wounds never go away,” she says. “Every anniversary, every Christmas, every birthday, you’re aware that Tim is not with us. It’s always there, no matter what. Nothing takes the pain away. And it was worth dragging up the past to let people know about the charity we set up in the wake of the bombing.”

Colin and Wendy Parry

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Helsby couple injured in the bombing speak about the tragedy

Liz and Gordon Edwards from Helsby told us about the injuries they received in the bombing that day in 1993.

What the Parry family have done for peace

The IRA bomb attack, and the loss of Tim and Johnathan became a seminal moment in the Northern Ireland peace process.

It took Colin and Wendy to Northern Ireland, where Colin said his experiences filming a documentary there inspired him to set up a foundation for peace.

Together, the couple set up the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation to promote peace and non-violent conflict resolution and it opened its doors in March 2000, continuing to support people across the country who have been affected by terrorism to this day.

This includes the hundreds of people affected by the Manchester Arena atrocity in May last year.

Speaking to our sister paper Manchester Evening News in March on the 25th anniversary of the bombing, Colin said the charity was his son’s lasting legacy.

“At Tim’s funeral I said that if my son becomes a symbol for peace and gives everyone a new sense of hope after so much tragedy, then that will be Tim’s unique achievement,” he said.

“Today, the charity which Wendy and I founded is the leading UK provider of support to victims of terrorism, young people and communities whose lives have been affected by extremism. We know that Tim, Johnathan and all those who were injured are remembered and honoured by the work that we do every day.”

Aftermath of the IRA Warrington bombing in March 1993 (Image: Mirror)

In 2013, to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, The Chronicle visited the Peace Centre in Warrington and spoke to Wendy and Colin about how they thought Tim would be proud of all they had done in his legacy.

Chronicle coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Warrington bombing

20:45Carmella de Lucia

What can we expect from BBC's Mother Day?

Filming of Mother’s Day took place in Belfast earlier this year.

Anna Maxwell Martin of Motherland fame, plays Wendy Parry, the mother of 12-year-old Tim, while Daniel Mays from Against The Law, will play Tim’s father Colin Parry, with David Wilmot as Arthur McHugh.

Line of Duty actress Vicky McClure plays Susan McHugh, the Dublin mum of two who organised one of the largest peace rallies in Irish history.

Vicky said: “Susan McHugh’s actions back in 1993 remain just as inspirational today as they were 25 years ago. I feel truly privileged to play her in this incredibly moving new film.”

Mother’s Day is written by Warrington writer Nick Leather whad just completed his work experience at local newspaper the Warrington Guardian that day in 1993, which was based on Bridge Street where the two explosions happened.

A still from BBC2 Mother's Day

He explained that when he began his research for the film, “some of the most in-depth descriptions of it [the attack] were all by the Warrington Guardian reporters who’d literally just run down the road.”

Nick said: “As someone who grew up in Warrington and was on my way into town on the day of the bombing, bringing this astonishing story to the screen has been a career-long mission.

“Over the last year, I’ve been fortunate to work with a wonderfully supportive team at the BBC, including the director Fergus O’Brien, and have found the Parry and McHugh families to be even more inspiring than I did as a kid. I hope people are as moved and affected by this drama as we have been making it.”

20:34KEY EVENT

'Cheshire's darkest day'

Tonight the BBC screens the ‘must see’ factual drama ‘Mother’s Day’ which follows the horrific events of March 20, 1993.

It is going to be a difficult watch, not least for the friends and families of the young victims that lost their lives that day - Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball.

12-year-old Tim Parry and three-year-old Johnathan Ball who died in the Warrinton bombing on 20 March 1993

Much of the nation is expected to tune in tonight’s programme and we’ll be providing updates and reaction to what will undoubtedly be always known as Cheshire’s darkest day.